Method and apparatus for cooling high temperature ceramic turbine blade portions

ABSTRACT

An array of skewed cooling air conduits are embedded within a ceramic turbine blade for cooling an upper blade surface by producing a cool air film thereon, and by removing heat through conduction. The conduits provide a large bonding surface area in the ceramic, and are recessed to prevent clogging by the ceramic and to prevent direct contact with the hot gas stream at the upper blade surface.

STATEMENT OF GOVERNMENT INTEREST

The invention described herein may be manufactured and used by or for the Government for governmental purposes without the payment of any royalty thereon.

This application is a division of U.S. application Ser. No. 07/262,766. filed Oct. 20, 1988.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to the field of aircraft turbine blades and more particularly the cooling of ceramic blades.

Ceramic blade outer airseal life is a perennial problem in the first stage of high temperature turbines. Typical ceramic airseal failure is characterized by either cracking or partial spalling, resulting in an increased turbine tip clearance which produces a high leakage flow, reducing turbine efficiency. Such failure can be alleviated by the incorporation of a film cooling of the upper surface of the ceramic blade portion.

FIG. 1 illustrates a typical prior art ceramic airseal cooling design for a turbine tip. The upper surface 11 is the hottest portion of the ceramic body 1 and is cooled by the impingement of air illustrated by arrows 5 at the lower surface of the support substrate of the ceramic body. The cooling air flows through air ducts 7 and 9 to cool the lower surface 13 of ceramic body 1. Since the ceramic layer has a low thermal conductivity, this cooling technique produces a very hot ceramic upper surface 11 and a relatively cold lower inner surface, resulting in a high thermal gradient across the ceramic layer, to induce a high thermal stress tending to weaken the blade.

The teaching of passing cooling air through parallel conduits embedded in turbine blade portions is old in the art. The cooling air passes through, for example, honeycombed passages in U.S. Pat. 3,172,621 to Erwin, and forms a cooling air film upon the surface of the airfoil containing the cooling air honeycombed passages. U.S. Pat. No. 4,384,823 to Graham et al illustrates the concept of providing an array of cooling air tubes which transmit air to surfaces of a turbine blade. Other U.S. Pat. Nos. such as 4,684,322 and 4,249,291, illustrate the teaching of embedding cooling tubes within the body of turbine blade portions to cool surfaces thereof. It is the principle object of the present invention to provide a method of producing an array of cooling air passages embedded within a ceramic blade portion to be cooled which is believed to be more suitable than the approaches of the prior art.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with this invention, a metallic substrate supporting an array of skewed hollow projection members is provided, which convey cooling air to the upper hot ceramic blade surface to form a cooling film upon the finished blade when in use. The projection members also provide a large bonding surface for the ceramic body or blade portion, and conduct heat away from the hot upper portions of the ceramic blade. A novel method of producing this apparatus involves spraying ceramic over the projection members, thereafter machining away upper portions of the projection members to expose hollow cooling air conduits therein, which are thereafter etched away to recess terminal cooling air conduit portions of the projection members within the ceramic body. This avoids exposing the cooling air conduits to the hot gas stream flowing over the upper blade portion, and additionally tends to reduce the possibility of the plugging of the film cooling conduits in the projection members by the ceramic material during engine operation.

For a better understanding of the present invention, together with other and further objects thereof, reference is made to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a prior art method of cooling of the ceramic blade component;

FIG. 2 illustrates a sectional side view of a preferred product made by the aforesaid method of the invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates a plan view of FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4-7 illustrate various steps in producing the blade.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

FIG. 2 illustrates the preferred novel blade made by the method of the invention, which includes ceramic layer 1, bonded to substrate 3 and to tubular projections 15. The upper surface 21 is exposed to the hot gases and is cooled by cooling air passing through film hole or cooling air conduit passages 17 within projection members 15. The result is a film of cooling air 19 formed at the upper surface 21.

The plan view of FIG. 3 illustrates the array of projection members 15 and the cooling air conduit passages 17. It may be noted that staggered rows are provided at 15' to form an XY array of the film cooling air supply projection members embedded within the ceramic body 21. Thus upper portions of ceramic body at 21 are cooled by the cooling boundary layer of air 19 and are also cooled to a degree by the conduction of heat through the skewed projection members toward the lower cool substrate portion 23.

Referring now to FIGS. 4, 5, 6, and 7, an XY array of projection members 15, affixed to or formed as an integral part of substrate 23, is sprayed with ceramic material so that the tops of the projection members 25 are covered with a body of ceramic material 27. An entire array cf numerous projection members 15 and 15' may be formed by molding a single part consisting of the projection members and substrate 23, staggered as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. The top portions of the projection members and of ceramic body 27 are thereafter machined by, for example, grinding, until the solid terminal portions 25 of the projectors 15 are ground away to expose the hollow tubular air passageways through the projection members indicated at 18; see FIG. 6. The metallic upper portions 29 of the projectors are thereafter etched away somewhat, to form recessed terminal portions illustrated at 31 in FIG. 7, resulting in the product of FIG. 2, described above. This feature avoids exposing the conduits to the hot gaseous stream, and reduces the likelihood of the plugging of the air passageways by the ceramic material during engine operation.

Since numerous variations may be made in the practise of the invention, the scope of the invention is to be defined only by the language of the following claims and art recognized equivalents thereof. 

What is claimed is;
 1. Method for producing an apparatus for cooling ceramic turbine blade portions comprising the steps of:(a) providing an array of projection members, having given lengths, affixed to a substantially planar substrate, said projection members having cooling air flow passage means therein having lengths less than the given lengths of said projection members for defining a hollow terminal tube portion adjacent a solid terminal projection member portion; (b) covering said substrate and said projection members with a body of said ceramic material, said body having an upper surface separated from and positioned above the solid terminal portion of said projection members; and (c) removing sufficient ceramic material and material within said solid terminal portions of said projection members to expose the cooling air flow passage means within said projection members.
 2. The method of claim 1 wherein step (b) is performed by spraying said ceramic material over said substrate.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein step (c) is performed by grinding away the solid terminal portions of said projection members along with a portion of said body.
 4. The method of claim 2 wherein step (c) is performed by grinding away the solid terminal portions of said projection members along with a portion of said body.
 5. The method of claim 1 wherein said projection members are skewed relative to said substantially planar substrate.
 6. The method of claim 2 wherein said projection members are skewed relative to said substantially planar substrate.
 7. The method of claim 3 wherein said projection members are skewed relative to said substantially planar substrate.
 8. The method of claim 4 wherein said projection members are skewed relative to said substantially planar substrate.
 9. The method of claim 1 including the step of further removing terminal portions of said projection members for recessing the terminal portions of said projection members within said body of material.
 10. The method of claim 4 including the step of further removing terminal portions of said projection members for recessing the terminal portions of said projection members within said body of material.
 11. The method of claim 5 including the step of further removing terminal portions of said projection members for recessing the terminal portions of said projection members within said body of material.
 12. The method of claim 8 including the step of further removing terminal portions of said projection members for recessing the terminal portions of said projection members within said body of material. 